As it Should Be
by Xenos394
Summary: Team Phantom is now an actual thing but life is still tough for Danny, and it's only made more difficult by the complex nature of his relationship with his parents. Simply telling them would fix the issues, but how simple would that be really? The second story derived from the continuity of my other DP stories 'Pre-emptive Strike' and 'The Team Phantom Handbook'.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

**[AN: Hello readers,**

**This is a continuation of sorts of my previous story 'Pre-emptive Strike' and the second in what is starting to become a series of 1-2 shots based on events alluded to in my other DP story 'The Team Phantom Handbook'. **

**In this story, the focus is on Danny revealing his secret to his parents and the conflicting emotions I can imagine that would bring about.**

**At the moment, this is the only chapter I have written and I'd be happy to leave it here (probably), but if you want to see more, I'd definitely give writing more for this a shot. And even if no one actually wants to read any more of my stories ever again, I may just post some sort of continuation to this if the inspiration strikes.**

**I hope you all enjoy./AN]**

* * *

Danny, Sam, Tucker and Jazz were relaxing at the park, thankful for the lack of school work afforded by the weekend and the greatly appreciated reduction in ghostly activity lately. They had alternated between chatting idly and simply enjoying the pleasant weather while it lasted and they had the time and inclination to be able to just experience it.

The peace was shattered, however, when a faint whistling sound caused Danny to sigh in exasperation before turning his upper body intangible and waiting until an angular metal object embedded itself in the tree he had been reclining against.

"I'm really starting to hate this thing." Danny griped as he tugged the Boo-merang out of the unsuspecting tree before firmly sticking it into the ground nearby.

"You know dude, you could get a rid of a lot of your problems if you just told your parents. You are going to at some point, right?" Tucker asked, already knowing what the answer would be from the dozen other times this conversation had come up in the last month.

"Yeah, I know Tuck, and yes, I will tell them… eventually; it's just not the right time yet." Danny said as he rubbed his neck nervously while his friend, girlfriend and sister all simultaneously rolled their eyes at his reluctance.

"You know you're going to have to tell them at some point, right? And if you don't then they'll work it out on their own; they're not idiots, just a bit… clueless at times… like you." Sam chided.

"Sam's right, and that's definitely_ not_ a conversation I'd want to have with Mom and Dad. Imagine if they found out because they actually managed to seriously hurt you; it would destroy them." Jazz put in her two cents as well.

"I know guys, and I will tell them, it's just… how do you tell your fanatical, ghost hunting parents that you're actually part ghost and that they've been actively hunting you and planning to dissect you, _painfully_, for years!?" Danny said, his arms gesticulating wildly in an effort to prove his point.

The four friends sat in silence after that, all mulling over the somewhat complicated relationship between Danny, his parents and Phantom. It was a scene that had repeated itself on numerous occasions and they were still unable to answer Danny's question; how _do_ you tell your parents that sort of thing?

This time, however, was different.

As Danny cradled his head in his hands, he looked down at the ground in front of his feet and saw something that hadn't been there a minute ago. It was a small note wrapped around a very familiar Medallion.

And what was written on the note, you ask?

_'Perhaps start from the beginning.'_

* * *

Maddie was beginning to worry about exactly what her son wanted to speak to her about, he was extremely nervous, even compared to his usual jitteriness, and Sam, Tucker and even Jazz didn't look much better. She cast a questioning glance to Jack, who was sitting next to her on the couch, but he seemed as dumbfounded as she was.

"So, ah, Mum, Dad, the, uh, reason I wanted to speak to you guys was because, um well, because…" Danny trailed off even more awkwardly than he had sounded during the rest of the broken sentence. Sam squeezed his hand gently for support, all the while struggling to suppress the concerned expression beginning to grace her features.

That action caused a major realisation to dawn on Maddie; she finally could finally grasp what this talk was going to be about. It would explain why Sam seemed to be as nervous as Danny, and why Tucker and Jazz were here, and it would definitely explain why Danny's tongue seemed to be tied in a triple knot.

"Danny… did you get Sam pregnant?" She questioned gently, expecting relief to flood over the two teens now that the subject of the visit had finally been laid bare, as it were.

The reaction she got was quite different to that.

A synchronised shriek of "_What_!?" was heard from the couple in question, while Tucker fell of his perch on the armrest, laughing uncontrollably and Jazz cradled her head in her hands muttering something that Maddie couldn't hear, but which seemed to set Tucker off even more. Danny and Sam were frozen in place, twin looks of shock and mortification plastered on their faces as they processed what had just been said.

Danny seemed to be the first to regain the use of his vocal faculties.

"Why would you even _think_ that?! We're not even having-" Danny cut himself off as he looked to the floor and shook his head is stupefaction. "You know what? I am _not_ having this conversation with my parents right now. I am just _not_ having this conversation." Danny rambled on, running both hands through his strangely windswept hair.

"What Danny's trying to say is that, no, I am _definitely_ not pregnant and that there's another reason that he wanted to talk to you." Sam clarified, while elbowing Danny sharply in the ribs in an attempt to get him to focus on the task at hand.

Tucker had finally composed himself somewhat and had reclaimed his spot on the armrest while Jazz placed a comforting hand on Danny's shoulder as he tried to sort out his jumbled emotions.

Danny took one more deep breath before looking up and meeting the gaze of his parents, his eyes serious and worried.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you guys…I need you to promise me that you won't interrupt while I'm explaining this, that you'll actually _give_ me the chance to explain this. It won't be easy for you to hear, and I'm pretty sure you won't believe it, but I promise you that everything I'm about to say is true to the best of my knowledge, and Sam, Tucker and Jazz will vouch for all of it. So if you can't trust what I say after this, at least trust what they say."

Maddie nodded dumbly, surprised and concerned by the seriousness and gravity of his voice, so different from the usually awkward or sarcastic tones she had heard so often. A quick glance to her left confirmed that Jack felt the same.

Seeing their assenting nods, Danny sat up straight in his seat and pulled Sam fractionally closer to him.

"Okay… You remember the day that the Portal started working? And I got shocked a bit when it did? Well, it wasn't a little shock…"

And so Maddie listened in horror as her son described the events of his life for the previous two years since he became a 'Halfa' as he put it. She was stunned into silence as he described, and in many cases demonstrated, his spectral nature. Her sharp mind was blunted with the realisation that all of her theories about ghost's emotive and cognitive complexity were blown away by his own first-hand testimony. And her heart, usually swollen with love for her children, was shattered as she realised precisely what she had been subjecting her son to, every day for the past two years after one of the most life altering and potentially traumatic experiences anyone could ever go through.

The fact that Danny had to face the psychological repercussions of a near fatal accident _and_ somehow being granted a large degree of ghostly physiology, with only his two equally young and innocent friends to support him was nearly inconceivable for her. It made her wonder just why he didn't tell her and Jack straight away.

But, of course, the answer was obvious:

They were both extremely vocal about their hatred of ghosts. There was hardly a conversation between them that didn't somehow end with a discussion about how dangerous and evil ghosts were or how to best destroy and experiment on them. And Jazz and Danny had grown up listening to that sort of viewpoint. Then one day, Danny finds himself imbued with the same power as those creatures he has been taught from an early age to revile and flee from.

Of course he never told them what had happened.

And even if he had ever have decided to tell them, she and Jack had then gone and specifically targeted his alter-ego as the target for all of their hatred and fear; Phantom, the ghost child that so easily and flippantly dismissed them as threats, who avoided their traps and attempted to prove their own precious theories wrong by showing them that ghosts were not mindless, evil creatures bent on the destruction of everything Jack and Maddie held dear.

They would come home from another failed Ghost Hunt, ranting to Danny and Jazz about how they would one day capture Phantom and 'rip him apart molecule by molecule', never knowing that he was standing not ten feet from them, in the form of their son. Danny avoided their physical attempts to destroy him, only to have to endure their verbal assault at home, where he couldn't escape.

It made her sick to her core to think she had, knowingly or unknowingly, subjected her son to that level of abuse. She wanted to run out of that room and throw up until there was nothing left in her stomach, then keep vomiting until the churning turmoil in her abdomen disappeared. But Danny was still speaking, and she promised him that she would listen; it was the least she could do now.

* * *

This torturous explanation continued for another hour and by the end of it Maddie was feeling faint and emotionally drained; and it didn't look like Jack was faring much better. For his part, Danny seemed equal parts relieved, thankful and terrified about how his parents might react.

"So… you're Phantom…" Maddie stated slowly and then continued when Danny nodded his head in confirmation, "And your father and I… hunted you down, for two _years_, when the whole time you have just been trying to protect this town…like we thought we were doing…"

Danny nodded mutely in response once again.

Maddie was dead quiet, still struggling to process everything in the wake of such a massive revelation. Jack, normally so energetic and full of enthusiasm, was more subdued than she had ever seen him during their twenty five years of married life. His pain and confusion were written clearly in the solid features of his face, and it pained Danny to see such as hurt expression on a man that had always been such a role model for him as he grew up, especially since he knew that he was the one causing that pain; not directly, but he was still the main cause (at least, in his mind).

"Show us…" Jack practically croaked out, his throat dry from staying silent for so long and his voice weak from shock.

Nodding once more, Danny gave Sam's hand one more squeeze before he disentangled the appendage and stood up. Taking a moment to focus, he stood in the middle of the room and took a steadying breath before a pair of painfully bright rings of energy swept across his tall frame. His casual clothing was replaced by a thick, ink-black HazMat suit, with silver gloves and heavy boots and Phantom's (in)famous symbol emblazoned across the chest. Danny's Raven hair became Charcoal White and the vibrant blue of his eyes was suddenly replaced with a rippling green that was the exact colour of ectoplasm.

And suddenly, the Fenton's didn't see their son their anymore; they saw their most hated target, the embodiment of everything wrong with ghosts.

Phantom.

But it only lasted a moment.

Now that they knew what to look for, they could see Danny. This was no longer an impersonal, distant work issue; this was their son.

But at the same time it… wasn't.

Despite everything they had just seen and heard, they couldn't reconcile _this_.

They couldn't reconcile Danny, their sweet, naïve, clumsy and somewhat lazy son, with Phantom, the most active, persistent and controversial spectre in the world.

In hindsight, it made so much sense and explained so many questions, about both Danny and Phantom. But accepting that Danny and Phantom were one and the same meant accepting that they had tried to _kill_ their own son on dozens, if not hundreds, of occasions! It meant accepting that the entire basis of their profession and, by extension, their life, was in fact a lie fuelled by their own prejudice and fear of the unknown. It meant accepting that their own son was so terrified about their possible reactions that he didn't feel secure enough to talk to them about the single most defining aspect of his life, but instead kept it a secret for _two years_.

And it meant accepting that for two years, they hadn't noticed.

"Please… please turn back. I-I can't…" Maddie choked out, the sickening turmoil in her stomach returning full force.

The rings returned and Phantom was replaced by Danny.

Both Jack and Maddie relaxed visibly at this, but the haunted look on their faces remained. Slowly, Maddie rose from her seat, Jack matching her movements carefully in order to support her. The four sitting across from them visibly tensed and Jazz, Tucker and particularly Sam all moved towards Danny protectively.

Their concern, it turned out, was not required.

Maddie just barely managed to force out a strained and desperate "I'm sorry…" before Jack helped lead her out of the room, leaving four anxious and concerned young adults to look helplessly between each other.

"Come on, you can all stay at my place tonight;" Sam said after a minute "you're parents are going to need time to process all of this and my folks are away on business again."

"I'll stay here, for their sake." Jazz said as Danny and Tucker nodded mutely in response to Sam's suggestion. "You three go; it will probably be best for them to have some space from Danny for the moment. I'll call if there are any problems."

Danny walked solemnly to the door, and he couldn't help wondering if this might be the last time he ever walked out of it. His parents hadn't started shooting immediately, so that was a plus, but they hadn't exactly welcomed him with open arms either. In fact, he hadn't really gotten any response out of them. Everything was up in the air at the moment; but unlike when he was flying, he had no control over how this ended up.

Feeling Sam take his hand gently, he pulled her close to him and took a final look at the door, before slipping out into the world beyond.

* * *

Later that night, deeply ensconced in the black velvet comforter of Sam's bed, Danny lay awake. Tucker was sleeping soundly on a mattress on the floor and Sam was lying on the other side of the bed, having finally succumbed to exhaustion.

Danny, however, was far too anxious to sleep.

His stomach lurched and twisted as stress and worry wormed their way through his mind, worst case scenarios flying around his sleep-deprived psyche. He was about to get up and go for a flight, in the hopes that it may help him relax, when a strange weight appeared on his chest.

It was another one of Clockwork's Time Medallion's, with another note wrapped around it:

_'Do not fear the future, young Phantom; all is as it should be.'_

Deciding it would be best to trust his mentor and guardian, Danny closed his eyes once more in a final quest for sleep, until he could see what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

**[AN: And thus ends this story (so far). If you want to see more, please do let me know, otherwise I hope you enjoyed the story.**

**Thanks for taking some time to read, and if you could spare a bit in order to give me some feedback, that would be amazing.**

**Thanks again. /AN]**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

**[AN: Hello again,**

**So as you can see, I did decide to continue with this story. In fact, there will be at least one more chapter to come after this one. This chapter and the somewhat more angsty direction this story is taking was inspired largely by my favourite revelation fic, 'Surrender' by WildFireBurns TheForest; which I highly recommend, if my opinion counts for anything. The author does a spectacular job at capturing the sheer complexity of the situation, and that's what I've tried to achieve with this, also.**

**I do make reference to my first DP story, 'Pre-emptive Strike', which I would recommend reading first (though I am somewhat biased) but it's not necessary, just know that it won't fit neatly in the cannon universe of the show.**

**I hope you enjoy./AN]**

* * *

Jack and Maddie got little in the way of sleep that night as well.

They spent the entire time pouring over their copious research notes and journal articles, looking for anything concrete that they could use to disprove what Danny had told them, that would show it was just some cruel, horrible joke.

But after twelve hours of caffeine ingestion and sleep deprivation, they discovered that nothing was concrete, that their entire field of study was filled with so many assumptions and unknowns that it would be easy to summarise everything they knew for certain about ghosts on a standard post-it note. What little they did have actually lent credence to Danny's story; what he described did not defy any fundamental truths about ectoplasm as far as they knew and so it must be considered as a viable hypothesis.

But still they couldn't just accept the fact that Danny, their _son_, was actually Phantom. They both knew that their denial was irrational and it galled them that they were acting on an irrational premise, considering they prided themselves on their logical minds and scientific rationalism, but that minor level of disgust was far easier to deal with than the guilt that would invariably follow accepting Danny's true nature. Their wounded pride was preferable to the soul-crushing knowledge that they had badly injured their own child on multiple occasions and that they had not acted on any of the evidence that there was something very wrong with his life for _two years_.

It was inexcusable and unjustifiable; so they opted to continue to live in their denial for as long as its frail form would hold against the weight of proof Danny had provided them with.

* * *

When Maddie awoke some time the next day, she found herself slumped over a computer terminal with a blanket draped over her shoulders. She found Jack in a similar state over at a nearby workbench, indicating Jazz was responsible for their care.

Stretching her displeased spine out with a series of _cracks_, she stood up and began to walk towards the stairs in an effort to acquire more coffee. She was halfway up the stairs from the basement when she heard Jazz speaking to someone, presumably on a phone due to the lack of a second voice.

"They spent the entire night in the lab, and before you start freaking out, no they weren't working on a weapon. It looked like they were going over old research papers, nothing weapons related from what I saw." Jazz's voice echoed down the narrow stairwell.

'I don't remember seeing Jazz in the lab last night,' Maddie thought to herself, 'please don't tell me I was so engrossed in my work that I completely ignored my other child…'

Jazz started speaking again, so Maddie focused her attention on the one side of the conversation she could hear.

"Look Danny, I know you're scared, but I'm sure this will all work out. They're just in an extended state of shock at the moment; you did kind of shatter their entire world view in the space of an hour and a half."

"….."

"Don't you dare go blaming yourself for this. If you hadn't told them, you'd still be coming home at 2 o'clock in the morning covered in bruises and cuts and claiming you sleep-walked down the stairs. If it's anyone's fault, it's theirs for being so obsessed with their work that they didn't care enough to actually look into what might have caused your sudden shift in behaviour two years ago; it's not like your secret is really that hard to work out if someone could open their mind enough to consider the possibility."

"….."

"I know, I know, just-"

"….."

"Look, just give them some time, they need to work past the barriers they've put up in their own minds. I'll call you if there are any developments; and yes, if Vlad shows up, you'll be the first to know."

"….."

"Okay, I'll talk to you soon. Take care little brother."

Maddie crept quietly back down the stairs, coffee completely forgotten as she tried to digest Jazz's scathing review of her parenting on top of everything else she was already trying to work through.

When she entered the lab again, she found Jack slumped over a work bench, distractedly flicking through more reports. When he heard her enter, he twisted slowly to look at her and it was clear in the taut expression of his usually relaxed features and his haunted eyes that he was thinking the same thing she was.

"We're terrible parents, aren't we Mads?" He said in an unnaturally solemn voice, his voice tight with emotion.

"Yes Jack, I think we are." Maddie replied, voice equally as strangled by the maelstrom of emotions inside her.

"I just heard Jazz on the phone to Danny," she continued after a few moments of silence, "She said we were obsessed, too blinded by our research that we couldn't even bring ourselves to care about Danny. More than that, half our job was _hunting_ Danny down like an animal, less than an animal even! Our own son… my god Jack, what have we done…?"

Jack didn't have a response to that, he just stared blankly forward.

After another indeterminate period of time, he spoke up.

"Yesterday… his eyes… he was terrified of us, Mads. My own son was _terrified_ of me. How did we never see it before? Two years…" he trailed off, a thousand yard stare fixed on his features.

Once more the lab descended into a deathly silence, not that either of its inhabitants would have been aware of anything changing in their surroundings.

"Jack… do you think he will ever forgive us?" Maddie asked quietly, not entirely sure if she wanted to hear the answer or not.

Before Jack could formulate a response, a much terser female voice interceded.

"Danny will, it's in his nature; he wanted to tell you, after all. Tucker might even forgive you, though he'll still be wary for a while. But Sam won't, not for a _long_ time; to her, you'll always be the people who hurt Danny, and she saw exactly what that damage looked like, physically, mentally and emotionally, better than any of us. And I'm not sure I can ever forgive you for what you did to my baby brother." Jazz practically hissed, anger and venom dripping from her words while the elder Fenton's could only hang their heads in dejection, unable to refute the truth of her accusations.

"Did you know that four months ago, Danny experienced his absolute worst nightmare actually happen? The sort of experience so personal that he will barely talk to Tucker or I about it?" Jazz continued, relentlessly driving her point home. "And did you know that a month and a half ago, the mental and emotional strain from that and from everything else that crushes him _every day_ caused him to come within a hairsbreadth of practically _killing_ himself? Sam found him and effectively put him back together, both mentally and physically." Jazz continued her lashing, each question remaining unanswered as the truth of her words sunk deeper and deeper into her parents' hearts.

"I'm sure you noticed that week that Phantom all but disappeared, about a month and a half ago? And I'm sure you spent hours, days even, trying to work out what it meant. But did you ever notice that in that same week, Danny seemed more active than usual, that his grades skyrocketed, or that he didn't get any detentions the entire time? That was because he was _forced_ to take a break from ghost fighting because his injuries were so extensive. You've paid more attention to a ghost you _despise_ than your own son, and you _still_ didn't work out that they were one and the same!" Jazz was practically seething now, not caring how much it hurt her parents to hear this, because they needed to hear it; Danny needed them to hear it.

"And you know what? You're still doing it! Here you are, wrapped up in your own guilt, while completely ignoring Danny. He's _terrified_ that the next time he'll see you guys, you'll be looking back at him from behind the barrel of an ecto-gun!"

That was finally enough to cause Maddie to snap, as she leapt from her chair and spun to face her daughter.

"We would never-" She began angrily, but her voice caught in her throat as she realised what she was about to say. She sank to her knees as she realised just how wrong that statement would be. And she began to sob as the full extent of her failure crashed into her like a wave. Jack held his head in his hands and wept as well.

Jazz just turned on her heels and walked out of the lab.

* * *

**[AN: I'm sorry if you think I made Jazz to extreme in this, but I think it fits her character. She's shown to be very protective of Danny and her own dislike of her parents professional myopia is hardly a secret, so I think that given the right situation she really could just unleash on them; but it's also entirely possible that you would disagree with that analysis.**

**So overall, what are your impressions? I'd love to get some feedback for this chapter in particular.**

**Thanks again for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own 'Danny Phantom' or any of the characters, concepts etc. Those are owned by Butch Hartman/Nickelodeon, I believe. I make no claim to anything in this story, it is a perspective with hypothetical scenarios added in.

**[AN: Hello once more,**

**And here, after far to long a period of time, is the final chapter. I hope you all enjoy it and I apologise for the wait, it took me much longer than anticipated to actually get the flow and dialogue right for much of this, and I'm still not sure it's quite right, so feedback on that would be greatly appreciated.**

**One further note; in this Pre-emptive Strike' Continuity, Danny and co. were approximately 15-16 when the accident occurred, rather than 14.**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter./AN]**

* * *

Sunday had been hell for Danny, not knowing what was going on with his parents. Jazz kept him updated when she could but that just made the lack of information all the more obvious; still it was better that nothing. Sam and Tucker had done everything in their power to keep him distracted and optimistic, but every hour that passed only added to Danny's growing concern.

Then Sunday had passed and around came Monday. It was unanimously decided that it would be best to go to school, in order to keep up a semblance of normality and to distract Danny from the current situation (plus it had hundreds of witnesses who all adored Phantom, just in case the Fenton's tried something).

Sam and Tucker took care of the one ghost who showed up so that Danny didn't have to risk revealing his position to any ectoplasm trackers that his parents might be using and he effectively spent the whole day more distracted than usual, even if he was actually managing to stay awake. Danny had spent most of his free time checking his phone in the vain hope that staring at it may induce Jazz to call and give him _some_ sort of news.

So imagine his surprise when the trio left the school and found Jazz waiting for them out the front in her car.

"Hop in you three, Mom and Dad want to talk to Danny, but you two are part of the deal as far as I'm concerned."

None of them needed to be told twice. They all quickly slung their bags of their shoulders and held them in their laps as they slid into the car.

"I thought you said you'd call if anything changed?" Danny questioned, more than a little disoriented by everything at the moment.

"I would have; but knowing you, you would have transformed in the middle of the Cafeteria to get home as quickly as possible. I figured it would be more prudent to pick you up from school." Jazz replied as she turned down the street that led to FentonWorks.

Danny didn't reply but his light blush and awkward neck-rubbing confirmed her theory.

Soon enough, they had arrived at the house and piled out of the car. As they approached the door it was silently decided between Sam, Tucker and Jazz that Danny would stay in between the three of them at all times until they were absolutely sure he would be safe. No one let Danny in on this decision so he was a bit miffed when he found himself blocked by Sam and Jazz to his front and Tucker to his rear, but he was too anxious to complain at the moment. With one last comforting glance back towards her brother, Jazz stepped through the door and into the Living Room.

And what she found was her parents sitting as awkwardly and stiffly on the couch as the four teens had two days ago.

Everyone took up roughly the same positions as they had on that fateful Saturday evening and soon a tense silence settled in the room.

"So, what did you want to say to Danny?" Sam ground out, her voice taking on a dangerous edge. She had been doing her best to keep her anger at the elder Fenton's treatment of Danny over the weekend in check for his sake; but she figured that after this, it wouldn't matter one way or the other.

The tone of her voice made Jack and Maddie look at her in surprise, before it morphed into a sad smile. They knew Sam was anything but a meek young woman; she had been Danny's best friend since 2nd grade and had been such a presence in their lives that they practically viewed her as another daughter (and eagerly hoped that she might actually become one, in the near-ish future), so they thought they knew her quite well, but they had never expected that she could be so fiercely protective of their son. But it had become clear in the past two days that the same could also be said for Tucker and Jazz. Danny protected the town, and they protected Danny, because his parents weren't. It warmed their hearts to know that Danny had people that cared for him so deeply, even though it pained them to accept that they didn't fit into that category… at least, not yet.

"We… we want to- no, we _need_ to apologise…for everything." Maddie began, her face reflecting the forlorn tone of her voice.

"Danny, what we did to you is… unforgivable. And it doesn't matter that we didn't know who you were; we're your parents, we _should_ have known. We thought that you'd enjoy some independence when you started growing up, like Jazz; but we took that too far and ignored you and everything that was happening in your life." Jack continued, his deep voice low with emotion.

"Wait, you're not mad that I didn't tell you earlier?" Danny asked nervously, with the slightest hint of hope colouring his voice.

"Of course not darling, in fact, I think it's the only part that we _do_ understand about all of this. We're just upset with ourselves that we made you feel that you couldn't come to us about this." Maddie replied, with a somewhat strained half-smile. It didn't do much to lift the mood in the room, but it didn't hurt.

"And because of that, we are both proud and ashamed that you stepped up to help your brother, Jazz. Proud because you were there for him when he needed you most, and ashamed at ourselves that you had to be the one to do it, because we weren't. We know that you might never be able to trust us again, or even stand being in the same room as us, and we would deserve that; just know that we couldn't have raised a better daughter." Jack said, managing to lock eyes with his daughter long enough to convey the depth of their pride in her.

"Sam, Tucker… we can't thank you enough, for everything you've done for Danny. Thank you for sticking with him through all of this, and thank you for being the family to him that we weren't. Over the years we had come to view you like our own children, the way you stuck so closely to Danny, but now we know just how simplistic our view was. You _are_ his family now, not us; we don't deserve that honour anymore." Maddie said as she fixed her gaze on the two young adults in front of her. They stared open mouthed at the woman in surprise, because the sincerity and solemnity in her voice conveyed her complete seriousness in the matter.

"And Danny… your father and I, we are just so, _so sorry_, about all of this. About the Portal, about hunting you, about ignoring everything going on in your life and piling on more and more responsibilities when you were already shouldering far more than you ever should have had to. I don't know if you four can find it in yourselves to forgive us after everything we've done to you, to Danny; but if you can, we want to help and we want to _learn_. "

"But if you can't forgive us, then we understand as well. Danny, you're nearly eighteen and if you want, we can find a way to support you if you wish to move out immediately; the research funds, perhaps. Whatever you decide, we'll support you." Maddie said as tears began to run in small rivulets down her cheeks, not voicing the implied 'because we haven't supported you so far' at the end.

Danny kept his head bowed as he thought about what they said. They were offering him freedom and independence, no strings attached. If he said so, he could be out of this crazy family and never have to look back.

But that's not what he wanted.

Despite what they said, he had never stopped considering his parents as family. They were eccentric and slightly obsessive, but he couldn't ask for better parents, if only because they were _his_. It wasn't like they had left him on his own to navigate through life, they just missed the stuff he was actively trying to hide from them; he had to take _some_ of the blame for that.

With a quick to each of his friends and sister, who all confirmed with a slight nod, Danny looked his parents in their eyes and smiled.

"Mom, Dad, welcome to Team Phantom."

* * *

**[AN: And that's the end of that, I hope you have enjoyed the story.**

**Keep an eye out for the next one which will centre around Danielle.**

**Thanks again for reading! /AN]**


End file.
